Good-Night
Day is past!Stars have set their watch at last;Founts that through the deep woods flowMake sweet sounds, unheard till now;Flowers have shut with fading light--Good-night!
Go to rest!Sleep sit dove-like on thy breast!If within that secret cellOne dark form of memory dwell,Be it mantled from thy sight--Good-night!
Joy be thine!Kind looks o’er thy slumbers shine!Go, and in the spirit-landMeet thy home’s long-parted band;Be their eyes all love and light--Good-night!
Peace to all!Dreams of heaven on mourners fall!Exile! o’er thy couch may gleamsPass from thine own mountain-streams;Bard! away to worlds more bright--Good-night!
Words in this poem
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Good-Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Good-Night, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/good-night.html, id L19698.
Form and metre
Good-Night is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA--BB pastA · lastA · flow · now · lightB · nightB
- 2 AABBCC restA · breastA · cellB · dwellB · sightC · nightC
- 3 AABBCC thineA · shineA · landB · bandB · lightC · nightC
- 4 AABBCC allA · fallA · gleamsB · streamsB · brightC · nightC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Day is past! | 3 | ··· |
| Stars have set their watch at last; | 7 | ······· |
| Founts that through the deep woods flow | 7 | ······· |
| Make sweet sounds, unheard till now; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Flowers have shut with fading light-- | 7 | /···/˘· |
| Good-night! | 2 | ·· |
| Go to rest! | 3 | ··· |
| Sleep sit dove-like on thy breast! | 7 | ······· |
| If within that secret cell | 7 | ····/˘· |
| One dark form of memory dwell, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Be it mantled from thy sight-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Good-night! | 2 | ·· |
| Joy be thine! | 3 | ··· |
| Kind looks o’er thy slumbers shine! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Go, and in the spirit-land | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Meet thy home’s long-parted band; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Be their eyes all love and light-- | 7 | ······· |
| Good-night! | 2 | ·· |
| Peace to all! | 3 | ··· |
| Dreams of heaven on mourners fall! | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Exile! o’er thy couch may gleams | 7 | /······ |
| Pass from thine own mountain-streams; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Bard! away to worlds more bright-- | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Good-night! | 2 | ·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.